Yet another adventure

It's time for a fun and exciting post after that boring essay that I last posted. Today in heat transfer we learned about the NTU method for optimizing the design of heat exchangers. It's an exciting method because you only need to know the inlet temperatures for the two fluids in the heat exchanger to calculate a heat rate OR an overall effectiveness! Just kidding...


This past Saturday was one of the most beautiful days that we've had over here, so of course I spent just about the entire day outside. We started out by checking out the weekly market that happens in Metz just outside the Cathedral, then hopping on a train for the cheap and short 45 minute ride North to Luxembourg. I heard some mixed reviews in the past regarding Lux so I didn't really have high expectations of the city..we just figured it would be a new and possibly interesting place to walk around on such a beautiful day, and it definitely overcame all expectations that I had.


Market outside of Cathedral St. Etienne in beautiful METZ!


What impressed me the most about the city was the amazing natural beauty that it possessed. The topography is really interesting--the main commercial and residential parts of the city sit on the tops of large hills that are separated by deep, stunning valleys with rivers, parks, and trails running through them. The hills created such a huge separation between the different parts of the town that each level had a different name: upper town and lower town, which is similar to the 'slopes' and 'flats' in Pittsburgh.

Some nice contrasting scenery in Luxembourg


We only spent a short amount of time in the upper town, walking through the dense, compact streets of the old town for a while before descending into the gorgeous green valleys. It was such a contrast from the hustle and bustle of the upper town. The valleys were quiet, peaceful, and serene, and it felt like we went from a city to a series of small villages connected by parks and biking trails. After wandering through the valleys for a while, we decided to check out the old fortifications of the city. From seeing the fortifications, it's pretty easy to be able to tell why little old Luxembourg isn't a part of France or Germany right now--it seemed like it was just about impenetrable back in the old days! Coming into the town by river, you're surrounded by soaring cliffs, castles, and walls that seem really imposing even today. The Luxembourgers (Luxembourgeoise? Luxers?) must have protected that place really well.

Sid the kid in the Old part of the upper town


Gorgeous view from the top of the fortifications


Contrasting layers



The hills reminded me of the burgh


All in all, it was a really interesting city. I could tell that it's a very wealthy place; there's no shortage of BMWs and Porsche's rolling around the city, and the town is filled with quirky little art galleries and expensive cafes, but we walked through a neighborhood of shacks not more than 2km away from the city center in one of the valleys. The topography of the place makes it so much more exciting than most other European cities--I thought of it as a place with all the excitement and culture of a cosmopolitan city combined with the natural beauty and quaintness of the European countryside. Lux is definitely a winner.

Urban Development

This is a short essay i wrote for my history class about urban development. I decided to post it because it's something that I'm really interested in, and it might be worth a gander if you have any interest in public transit, social problems, and/or sustainability. What's really interesting to me is the massive paradigm shift between the early 1900s and today regarding streetcars (or 'trams' here in Europe)--back then they were the first step towards suburbanization and class division but now they're seen as a progressive step towards higher density, environmental sustainability, and more livable cities and towns.


A modern streetcar/tram in Sevilla, Spain

Throughout history, the growth and development of cities have been governed and assisted by countless factors. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the development of both American and European cities changed from being directed by political and institutional forces to primarily those of economic forces. In other words, private companies and market forces, for the first time in history, reached the forefront in the determination of the way that cities functioned and developed. This in turn led to various developmental results, social consequences, and a variety of ways to address this new form of growth which differed between the United States and Europe.

Perhaps the most blatant result of these new economic forces and technological development was the mass decentralization of American cities. Many private forces contributed to this spatial deconstruction, but two in particular had the greatest impact: electric utilities and streetcar companies. In the late 19th century, private utility companies in the US started supplying energy to many of the major cities, and soon enough, the American lifestyle depended on the continuous electricity provided by these private companies. According to historian Harold Platt, as more people purchased their electricity from these providers, “the unit cost of electricity fell, encouraging even higher levels of consumption” (247). These low prices and constant availability of electricity allowed Americans to move to the suburbs and enjoy the openness of rural American while still having the same commodities that were previously only available in cities.

At the same time, streetcar and transit companies in both the US and Europe were strongly lobbying for the mechanization of traction systems within urban areas. As their streetcars caught on with urbanites, they led to the growth of “streetcar suburbs,” especially in the US. This new form of transportation contributed directly to the spatial development of cities because it allowed people to live away from the city and use the streetcar to commute to and from their jobs every day. The primary form of propulsion for the increasingly popular streetcars was overhead electric traction, which required a large and constant source of electricity provided by the private utilities. Thus, a connection formed between these two privatized distributors of technology—Americans who had moved into the suburbs relied daily on the streetcars, which in turn depended on the electric utilities to deliver the power that they needed for overhead electric traction. Also, as discussed in class, the streetcars expanded along power lines in the city, and since the lines ran along sources of electricity, businesses tended to form along the same lines, further popularizing the decentralized urban development that became increasingly tied into privatized forces.

This new form of urban development in the United States did not come without its social consequences and various ways for urbanites to address these changes. Historian Anthony Sutcliffe calls into account the vested interests of these private transit companies of the 19th century: “The mechanization of street transport clearly favored tenants and property owners on the periphery of the urban area” (34). As a result of this, property owners in central urban areas along with owners of the pre-existing means of transport banded together and lobbied to retain the status quo that had been upset by this new form of transit. Because the streetcar provided the first step to the mass suburbanization of the United States in the 20th century, it also contributed to the social and class discrimination commonly associated with the suburbs. The suburbs of the 20th century became the havens of what is commonly referred to as “white flight,” which left poorer minorities in the central cities without the same transportation, education, and technological opportunities as their suburban counterparts.

Also, according to Platt, these new electrified street railways and utility companies caused social stratification that had not been previously seen. Because the utilities at first only supplied electricity to large cities, “electric lighting was associated with downtown areas and notions of class status” (Platt 251). The availability of electricity in urban areas added to the social stratification between the city and the country, and perpetuated the notion of urban elitism in working class, rural Americans.

While all of this was going on in the United States, Europe was also experiencing the advent of new technologies such as electricity and urban transit, albeit in a slightly different manner. Much like their American counterparts, European cities became reliant on the streetcars, but “these private transit firms were more strictly regulated by national and municipal governments in Europe” (McKay). In the United States, the government only had to concede some property rights to the streetcar companies, then the market forces took over from there and the state imposed minimal regulation on the industry. Large European cities, on the other hand, faced strict governmental regulation; in Paris, “everything was regulated: routes . . . rates, timetables, stations, technical progress” (Larroque 43). This high amount of regulation even placed restraints on entrepreneurs of the streetcar business—thus diminishing the possible economic forces on European urban development and constraining them with harsh political and institutional forces.

Although there were some significant differences between the experiences of American and European cities in the late 19th and early 20th century, both encountered vast economic and technological growth. With streetcars running on constant electrical current, expansion of cities on both sides of the Atlantic reached levels that had never before been seen. The advent of new technologies and industries forever changed the growth and development of urban areas: for the first time in history, private economic forces played a tremendous role in shaping the evolution of cities by contributing to social, fiscal, and spatial changes that can still be seen today.

In Bruges (and Brussels)

Since Easter was this weekend, we had an extra day off from school so I traveled north to the wonderful country of Belgium. I started the trip with visiting the ancient town of Bruges, which is in the Flanders region in Western Belgium. The town itself is pretty small, maybe about the same size as Metz, but it's one of the biggest attractions in Belgium.

It used to be one of the biggest cities in the world in Medieval times and was the main port city in Belgium. But in 1500, the river that connected it to the ocean filled with sand, and the city was completely forgotten about for about 400 years. Since the city basically fell asleep for so long, visiting it is like going back in time. The old medieval buildings are almost all still intact and the streets are narrow and covered in cobblestones. When we first got in on Friday night, we wandered around the dark, narrow, deserted streets for a long time, which was the best way to see the city. I felt like I had been transported back to a time before electricity, cars, or anything else we have in modern society. I must admit it was one of the coolest experiences I've had since I've been in Europe, and words/pictures cannot describe what it was like. It was something that everyone should experience at some point.

This picture is from Wikipedia but i think it almost comes close to giving the feeling of what Bruges is like at dusk/dark.

Bruges by day was pretty cool as well. We ended up doing the touristy stuff that you can do in pretty much every other European city--visiting various really old churches, climbing up to the top of the belfry (366 steps!), and eating the local food, which you can probably guess since we were in Belgium: Waffles! The Belgians really have their priorities straight..the three things that they are really known for are waffles, chocolate, and beer. Unfortunately I didn't have any of their chocolate since I'm not much of a chocolate person, but I had the waffles and beer. Most of the really delicious beers in Belgium are made by religious monks who live in Abbeys. They sell the beer as a way to make money for their respective abbeys, and most of them have been brewing using the same ingredients since the 1200s. Belgian beer is by far my favorite in the world because it's usually dark, strong, and full of flavor. A couple of my favorites that they also have in the states are Chimay, Duvel, and Delirium Tremens.

Bruges by day..it still felt like I was in a different world


Medieval windmills! There were a few more of these along the canals.

One of the squares of the town with the Belfry in the background

The view from the top of the Belfry. Check out all the wind turbines in the background!

Inside of one of the churches in Bruges

The next day we went over to Brussels, which was a nice city but definitely not as impressive as Bruges. It is the capital of Belgium and a much bigger city than Bruges, so it felt pretty similar to many other big European cities that I've been to.

Brussels, on the way up the hill to the Royal Palace.

The Royal Palace in Brussels

We did go to one really unique place though: Saturday night we were walking around and met two British guys and a French girl, and we decided to all go to a bar together. The place that we went to was something that I had read about previously in a NY Times article about Brussels and was probably the most interesting bar/lounge I've ever been to. Here's what the Times said about it, because their description is much better than what I could have come up with:

For good times, stumble over to Goupil le Fol, an eccentric, three-story bar housed in a former brothel that looks like a cross between an opium den and a 1970s porno set. The walls are covered with old paintings of nudes and lurid landscapes, as well as vinyl LPs. Sink into one of the couches, order one of the owner's favorite fruit wines and party into the wee hours, with an Edith Piaf song blaring from a nearby jukebox. Those with less bohemian instincts should stay downstairs, as the clintele gets more and more risque the higher you climb.

We were on the 2nd floor. I definitely recommend going there if you ever go to Brussels.

My rail pass just expired this past weekend, so that's probably the last of the foreign trips that I'll be doing this semester. Only about a month left in the semester, then I'll be leaving for the states on May 15th!

Nancy and Cheese

The weather ended up ruining my big plans for hiking up a mountain to see some medieval castles this weekend, but I did some other interesting stuff instead. Yesterday, even though it was cold and rainy, we decided we had to go out and see somewhere new, so we biked down to the train station and hopped on a train to the other large town in Lorraine called Nancy. Here's a map of the region so you have an idea of where it is in relation to Metz.


It was a surprisingly short train ride that went along the Moselle river most of the time. Just south of Metz near a tiny town called Aurs-sur-Moselle, we saw some ruins of an ancient Roman aqueduct that used to cross the river. It was pretty enormous and still impressive today, although only part of it was left.

About 35 minutes after leaving Metz on a regional train, we arrived in the city of Nancy. The town and architecture was really similar to Metz--the same building materials and mostly French-style buildings with a little bit of a German influence, since the whole region used to be part of German in the 1800s. There were some pretty glaring differences between the two cities--Nancy seemed like a much more youthful town to me. There are lots of colleges in the city, and the town was kind of an artsy more vibrant version of Metz. I noticed that there were a lot more "Brasseries," which are breweries/restaurants, and trendy little cafes in Nancy than Metz. I also noticed a lot of small art galleries, which I haven't really seen any of in Metz.

The coolest part of Nancy is the main square, called Place Stanislas, which is basically the main square of the town. It's HUGE and filled with lamposts, arches, and fences decorated in real gold. We also checked out the art museum and I wasn't really expecting it to be anything too exciting since Nancy isn't really that big of a city, but it ended up being really cool. They showcased a lot of work by artists that lived in Nancy in the 1800s, and there was one that I really enjoyed: Emile Friant. He was a realist painter that seemed to focus on human interactions and the museum had a lot of his work.

Place Stanislas in Nancy



Emile Friant - Les Amoureaux

Another thing i've been trying to do while in France is try every possible kind of cheese. Here's what I've tried so far, that I can remember

Emmental
Brie
Gouda - not French, but still delicious
Roquefort: My favorite one so far, made from sheep's milk in Southern France.
Chevre - goat cheese. Probably my second favorite.
Munster
Bleu - different than the blue cheese in the states
Boursin
Camembert de Normandie
Comte

Here's an example of the regulations for my favorite cheese, Roquefort. If these regulations aren't met, the cheese can't take the name of Roquefort.

1. All milk used must be delivered at least 20 days after lambing has taken place.
2. The sheep must be on pasture, whenever possible, in an area including most of Aveyron and parts of neighboring départements. At least 3/4 of any grain or fodder fed must come from the area.
3. The milk must be whole, raw (not heated above 34 °C), and unfiltered except to remove macroscopic particles.
4. The addition of rennet must occur within 48 hours of milking.
5. The Penicillium roqueforti used in the production must be produced in France from the natural caves of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon.
6. The salting process must be performed using dry salt.
7. The whole process of maturation, cutting, packaging and refrigeration of the cheese must take place in the commune of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon.

One important thing i've learned since I've been here: the French don't mess around when it comes to their cheese.

Thoughts on Studying in Europe

For American college students, doing a semester abroad or backpacking through Europe has become kind of a mainstream, commonplace experience that is highly popularized in our culture through movies, books, and word of mouth. We tend to look at Europe as this tiny place where we can just zip around from country to country and "do" cities. Not experience them, or spend a whole lot of really worthwhile, beneficial time in them--"do" them.

I must admit that in the few months leading up to my semester abroad, and even the first couple months of this experience, I was part of this mindset. I think that when you first come here as a college student with all these stereotypes and stories in your head, you feel this surge of wanderlust and the need to see tons of places--basically as much as you possibly can see in this short amount of time. While school and classes are still important, especially to our group since we are taking the same engineering classes that we would've taken in Atlanta, I think that it either consciously or subconsciously goes on the backburner after you realize that you are in Europe.

Not that there is anything wrong with this per se. It is, as the saying goes, the experience of a lifetime to be studying abroad in Europe. However, I think that after being here for two months I'm starting to look at the whole thing from a different perspective. You probably saw my short post from last weekend about biking through Metz and seeing all these things that I never knew existed. That day really changed the way that I look at my study abroad experience. Do I want to travel to some far-off place every weekend, be a tourist, and not really become involved in the city that I live in? For some folks, this is the way to do it, and by no means do I have a problem with that.

However, after last weekend, I really came to understand that we, as study abroad students in the city of Metz, are in a unique situation. As much as people say they dislike this city, it is the place where we are LIVING for an entire semester, and to not spend time in the city, experiencing its good and bad parts, would really be a shame. I will admit that it can be difficult to commit so much time to one place when there are all of these other great cities around. However, at this point in the semester I feel like I've done plenty of weekend trips to far-off places, and because of my unique situation, I have the opportunity to explore things that are close by that most tourists will never think of seeing. Also, I might be running a little low on money. This weekend, if the weather permits, I plan on going to an old, picturesque village in the nearby wine-making region of Alsace. Since this place is off the radar, most people would never think to go there. It is in the Vosges mountains, and is dwarfed by three medieval castles on the mountains above that can only be reached by hiking from the village.

This is the kind of thing that I will be trying to do for the rest of the semester, besides studying of course. I plan on coming back to Europe more times in my life, and maybe those times, when I am a bit older and have a bit more money, I will flock to the tourist attractions and museums in the big, fancy European cities. But for the rest of my time here in France, you can look forward to stories of me REALLY taking advantage of this experience: enjoying France by hiking, biking, meeting new people, trying the local food and drink, and really getting to know the place where I live: good ol' Metz. Don't be alarmed--I still plan on another weekend trip over Easter break, maybe to Belgium, and of course I will take some pictures and do a nice little write up on it for your entertainment, but the majority of my time from now on will be spent either in Metz in the surrounding regions of Lorraine and Alsace.

The Transformation

It's officially Springtime here in Metz! I went on a bike ride on Friday with one of the other kids at GTL and it was as if the town just completely changed into a different place. The streets were full of people walking around, the restaurants put tables and chairs out on their terraces, and the weather is beautiful.


We started out by following one of the numerous bike paths in the direction of the city. It went through a couple small parks and ended up at one of the rivers in the town, called the Seille, with a really imposing castle-looking structure right next to it. I found out that it's called the Porte des Allemands, or the German Gate. It was one of the original gates to the city, and part of it was built in the 1200s!

The towers behind me were built in the 13th century.

After checking that out, we biked to the center of town and came across a sort of open-air market for landscaping and gardening, where a sculptor was in the middle of making a sand sculpture. It was really amazing seeing how he made his scuplture--he basically only used his hands and a shovel!



Then we went over to the Moselle River, which is the main river that runs through Metz. Just up the hill from the river, we saw a really old looking church and decided to check it out. Apparently it was built by the Romans in the 4th century AD. We couldn't go inside but it was really cool just running into all these ancient things in the town that I live in. One thing about Europe that I've noticed is that no matter where you go, you come across all these beautiful historic landmarks, and there are remnants from the Romans all over France. It really wasn't that out of the ordinary to stumble across Roman building that's over 1700 years old in the middle of Metz. Apparently the town also has some aqueducts from the Romans, but I havent found any yet. Maybe I'll run into them on the next bike ride along the river.

The Roman monastary.

We saw this cool German-style house along the river.

Some more fortifications along the Seille..these ones were built in the 1300s.

Deutschland

Hello, my loyal readers. It's been a while since we last talked; or at least since I talked at you and you all decided not to leave any comments or questions about my journeys (hint hint). I still have to update everyone about the last leg of spring break, which was a few days in Barcelona at the end of February. Since then I spent a weekend in Metz getting my life back in order, and I spent last weekend enjoying the beer capital of the world: Munich! Since that trip is fresh on my mind, the post about Barcelona will just have to wait until some other time.

The trip to Munich, like many other train journeys I've been on while in Europe, was relaxing and stress-free. It took about six hours to get from Metz to Munich taking both local and high speed rail on the way. When we first checked into our hostel, we realized that it was attached to a restaurant/bar called Sinan's! Of course I got a picture with it. At this point it was around 11pm, and we had to sample some of the local beer.

We walked through the snow about 20 minutes to the city center and saw a place called Schneider & Son that looked promising. It was a traditional beer hall/brewery, and we had no idea what to do when we walked in there. We sat down at a table and soon enough a LARGE German woman wearing a traditional dress came over and asked what we wanted. Of course we had no idea, so we just said "Zwei bier, bitte" (2 beers please). She gave us their Weissbier, which is what the place was known for. This beer--my first taste of beer in Munich--was by far one of the greatest beers I've ever had, and I usually don't even like Hefeweizens! Soon enough we made friends with the guys at the table next to us, who were friendly locals and gave us some great advice on things to see during our stay in Munich.

Schneider Weisse. Look at that color!

Soon after, we all made friends with a VERY old, very traditional Bavarian man who was obviously drunk. This guy was decked out in the lederhosen, tall socks, suspenders, and the tophat. I think he realized that we spoke only a little bit of German, but that didn't stop him from talking to us--almost nonstop--for the better part of an hour. The local guys were translating a little bit here and there until he got mad and told them to stop, but from what I remember, I think he was giving us words of wisdom about how to live our lives, combined with some political banter. I asked to get a picture with him, and according to the other guys, he told me "No, pictures are shit. It's what is in your memory that really matters." I thought about what he said, and looking back on it, I'm glad that I never took a picture with him. He is someone that I'll remember for a long time and it is probably best that a picture doesn't tamper or change my perception of him. Because of him, I ended up not taking many pictures in Munich. But I do have a lot of great memories!

The next morning, we did a free walking tour of the city. Not only did we see a lot of the historic buildings and landmarks, but we also got to learn so much more than we would have if we had just aimlessly walked around all day. We spent a lot of time talking about Hitler and the Nazi party, which was basically created in Munich. We saw the building where Hitler and his colleagues met and decided to form their movement, and we walked through the streets where thousands of Jews were dragged from their homes and sent to concentration camps on a night in 1938 called Krystallnacht.
Marienplatz: The very center of Munich.



Since Munich was the base of the Nazi party during World War II, it was almost completely destroyed in the war. But the people of Munich knew what was coming, and before the bombings started, they went to each and every historic building in town and took pictures of all of the architectural features. After the war, they decided to rebuild the city back to its original historic charm instead of creating a modern looking city. Because of this, it almost feels like you're going back in time in some parts of the city. The architecture, although mostly a replica of the original, is really beautiful and well done.

An example of a building rebuilt after the war--Old city hall.

Just outside of the Hofbrauhaus.

The towers of the Frauenkirche were used as position markers by the Allied bombers during the war, so they were almost the only things not damaged in WWII.


Some other things that we did: Friday evening we decided to take part in Starkbierzeit, which is a two week long beer festival that's focused on the STRONG beers (at least 8% alcohol). We went to the Paulaner brewery and enjoyed it mostly for the beer, and also for the people watching. Starkbierzeit is mostly a local festival that tourists don't take part in, so I think we kind of stood out in the beer hall full of Bavarians, but it was a great experience. The outfits were great, the live traditional brass band was great, and the beer was STRONG.

Paulaner am Nockerberg for Starkbierzeit. It's hard to tell how huge and crowded this place was from pictures.


Saturday we were all over the place--we started out going over to the BMW headquarters and a showroom/attraction called BMW Welt. For a car person like myself, it was like heaven. My favorite part was the lineup of engines, each one attached to a small computer screen with sound clips of the motor and videos of the cars that used each respective motor. Also the architecture of the building itself was very unique. After that we checked out the Olympic Park, which was built for the 1972 summer Olympics in Munich. Then it was on to Allianz Arena, the home of Bayern Munich, and back into town to catch the soccer game at a bar with some locals. Bayern Munich won, but it was a pretty close game. After watching the game and making some new German friends, it was back to Metz on Saturday night. What a great city.

BMW Headquarters

Olympic Park

Allianz Arena a couple hours before a Bayern Munich football game.

The first semi-urban industrial scale wind turbine I've ever seen. This thing was ENORMOUS--it dwarfs the hill that it sits on, which is probably about 200 ft tall. It was pretty close to the soccer stadium.

Things in Munich:

Easy Palace Hostel - About a 20 minute walk from downtown, close to the train station and a metro station. We paid 12 euros a night and it was pretty clean and the staff was friendly. No free breakfast though.

Bars/Breweries

G Schneider & Sohn - The home of the greatest Hefeweizen in the world. It's a lively atmosphere and the first beer we had in Munich. Definitely recommend it.

Hofbrauhaus - This is probably painful for all you Pittsburghers, but this place was AWFUL! We never actually got a beer here even though we tried twice. It was packed full of tourists and not worth the time and effort.

Augustiner - Just across the street from the Hofbrauhaus. This is the place to go--amazing pretzels and great beer. A lot more laid-back than the Hofbrauhaus. It's more of a restaurant than beer hall.

Paulaner am Nockherberg - The place we went for Starkbierzeit. This place is absolutely enormous, packed full of locals sitting at long tables with traditional German music. This is the place to go in Munich.

Leave me some comments! It'll give me inspiration to update this thing more often.